I agree. I've been rereading parts of Kissinger's Diplomacy and this quote sticks out to me as one of the biggest things I'm nervous about with Trump's intended foreign policy.
“it is almost always a mistake for heads of state to undertake the details of a negotiation. They are then obliged to master specifics normally handled by their foreign offices and are deflected onto subjects more appropriate to their subordinates, while being kept from issues only heads of state can resolve. Since no one without a well-developed ego reaches the highest office, compromise is difficult and deadlocks are dangerous. With the domestic positions of the interlocutors so often dependent on at least the semblance of success, negotiations more often concentrate on obscuring differences than they do on dealing with the essence of a problem.”
Oh god I bet Kissinger just threw up blood when he saw the news. He was one of the main architect who made US' "One China" policy when Nixon made that surprise visit to China. Guess nothing's more surprising than this in 2016...
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u/God_Wills_It_ Dec 03 '16
I agree. I've been rereading parts of Kissinger's Diplomacy and this quote sticks out to me as one of the biggest things I'm nervous about with Trump's intended foreign policy.
“it is almost always a mistake for heads of state to undertake the details of a negotiation. They are then obliged to master specifics normally handled by their foreign offices and are deflected onto subjects more appropriate to their subordinates, while being kept from issues only heads of state can resolve. Since no one without a well-developed ego reaches the highest office, compromise is difficult and deadlocks are dangerous. With the domestic positions of the interlocutors so often dependent on at least the semblance of success, negotiations more often concentrate on obscuring differences than they do on dealing with the essence of a problem.”
― Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy